Alexi Pappas: This Duck doesn't just run

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Alexi Pappas of the third ranked Oregon cross country team is one of nine finalists for this weekend's NCAA Woman of the Year Award in Indianapolis.

"You can't run 24-hours a day, you must have down time," Pappas said.

When Pappas does run, she does good things, the native of Alameda, California made her Duck debut last month by winning the Bill Dellinger invitational.

"There's a lot of talent and a lot of sass, in the best way. The energy is extremely dynamic on our team this year," Pappas said.

Alexi won't have any eligibility left to contend for the Oregon track team in the Apring, but she did have her Hayward Field moment last June competing for Dartmouth at the Olympic Trails in the steeplechase.

"I think I was like 23rd out of the 24 girls," Pappas wise-cracked. "I believe on one of the laps, I slipped off this (steeple) and fell in so this is a love/hate relationship right here."

Transferring from the Ivy League to the Pac-12, Eugene is now where she calls home.

"I had my first omelet with duck eggs," Pappas exclaimed. "I had never tried a duck egg before but it was better than any chicken egg I ever had."

Venturing out on her plate and in life, the grad student of entrepreneurial business, creative writing and film, co-wrote a full-length movie with her boyfriend and Dartmouth alum, Jeremy Teicher.

"We didn't write dialogue because surely the way we communicate is not going to be the way these villagers, who the actual villagers were the actors in the film, would have communicated what we wanted to say," Pappas the co-writer explained.

"It's the first film in Pulaar which is their language. It's a really gorgeous film. I think Jeremy's vision and his style come through really clearly so hopefully it will be received well in London," Pappas said proudly.

From serious to goofy, Pappas was in the improv group Dog Day Playerswhile at Dartmouth

Already working on the screen play for a second film, Alexi can't wait for the future but first, she is going to live in the now.

"I have some more learning to do here and definitely so more running that I want to do."